Oil-well packer.



P. H. MACK.

OIL WELL PAUKER.

APPLICATION FILED 1\IAR.V,1Q14.

Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

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iUNiTED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

. PATRICK H. MACK, F BRADFORD, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO OIL W'ELL SUPPLY I COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH,PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

ort-WELL PACKER.

income.

Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

Application led March' 7,1914. Serial No. 823,174.

T0 al?, whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, PATRICK H. MACK, a citizen of the United States, residing 'at Bradford, in the county `of McKean vand State of Pennsylvaniahave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil- VVell Packers; and-I do hereby declare the tollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to Vwhich -itappertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates generally to that class of devices termed oil well packers, used in conjunction with casing and tubing in oil or artesian wells for the purpose of shutting ott the water of the higher levels from a lower portion of the Well or from the oil bearing sands, and the present invention is more especially directed to the production of a packer for use in conjunction with the pumping tube to shut ott' water issuing from the lower strata adjacent to the oil bearing sands.

4'Oil Well packers in general, and as Commonly constructed, comprise in combination a hollow cylinder or annulus of rubber or equivalent compressible and expansible material constituting the packing, a seat Aor abutment within the well for the support of the hollow compressible cylinder-or annulus, and means for transferring the Weight of the tubing or-casing to the hollow cylinder insuch'manner as to compress'the cylinder longitudinally and expand it laterally to close the space between the tubing or casing and the wall of the well'. Theseat or abutment for the cylinder may'haveits support on the side walls of the Well alone, or on the bottom and the side Walls of the well. In the former' case, the construction of the packer and its anchor is such that lthe packer and its anchor maybe raised or lowered in the well, or its position in the Well changed if required, by the crumbling or spalling of the walls of the well, without pulling the casing from the well,l and its support is independent of the bottom of the Well. In the latter case the engagement of the anchor with the walls of the ywell is effected through the medium of an extension of tubing' below the packer resting on the bottom'of the well, and consequently when change of position of the packer withiirthe well, for any reason, becomes necessary, the tubing must be pulled from the well and the length of tubing extending below the .packerv must be diminished or increased, as the case may require. l l

A string 'of well tubing is frequently thirty-five hundred feet, more or less, in length, and will weigh seven tons or more. In the use of wall packers with a casing, a shoulder in the bore of the well supports the casing and will prevent any extended drop thereof in casethe packer fails from crumbling of the walls; but in the case of tubing the tubing issuspended and therefore in the latter case if ,the Wall of the Well crumbles the anchor` failsy and the tubing drops -through any.."-yappreciable` distance, the momentum acquired by the tubing is such that the arrestlof the tubing frequently results in buckling of the tubing or in fracturing of the tubing at the ]o1`nts, and an expensive 'and diilicult lishing job, or possibly'loss of the well ensues. For this reason it is deemed preferable, in the case of tubing to use an anchor which has a support on the bottom of the well,jas heretofore pointed out, so that in case of crumbling ot the walls of the well a scarcely appreciable drop of the tubing will follow with less or little chance of injury to the tubing, and this notwithstanding the inability to change the position of and reset the packingwithout' pulling the tubing.

To overcome the 'disadvantages and objections incident to the forms oli-oil well packers as at present constructed and applied vvhile retaining the advantages incident to both formsis the object ot my invention, and to effect this I combine in an oil Well packer, a compressible and expansiblepacking, an abutment therefor, means for engaging and anchoring the abutment to the side walls of' the well, means for releasing and thereafter locking the abutment anchor vwhile in the Well, vand a tubular extension below the anchor, said extension being movable with relation to the body et' the packer whereby when the wall Aanchor of the packer becomes inoperative'from any cause the telescoping extension may serve to arrest the descent of the abutment anchor, thereby automatically resetting the' wall anchor of the packer, thus preventinginjury to the tuloing,and such a construction'embodies the main feature otl my invention.

There are other, minor, 'features ot invertion, involving the combination of {mrt-ieun lar elements whereby a'highly eilicient cork struction of the-'packer isgobtained, alles- -l will hereinafter more ful1y!. appear.

In the drawingschosen for the purpose of illustrating my invention, the. scopeL whereof is pointed out in the claims, Figure l is a -view in elevation, parts.brokon;rol1i;;

dinal central section lof an oilwell packer embodying my invention, parts broken out,

and'f'o'f a well,.showing the relation of theA coacting elements to each other and to the. ,"well A*walls previous to setting the packer as awall packer'. Fig. 3 isa sectional view similar to Fig. 2, showing the 'relatien' of the coactin'g elements to each other andto the wallso'f the well after the packer has -been set in theV well. -Fioz 4 is a sectional -View -o'f the lowerend of tQhetelescoping extension sleeve ofthepacker showing a reducing coupling which maybe substituted for the one shown in Fig. 2 when'the pumping tube does not extend through thepacker. Fig. `5 is a transverse sectional viewA ofgthe *packer taken in the plane of the line'5'-5. Fig. 1, and, Fig. ti is a transverse sectional view :of 'the packer taken in the plane of theline 646, Fig. 1.A

Like symbols referto like partsN wherever they occur. i

I will now proceed to describe my inven-V tion more fully so that lothers vskilled in the iart to which it apper ains'may apply the same.

In the drawings, 1 indicat'esfjacouplmg collar whereby the packer is-con'nected or coupled with a string .of tubing a. This collar-'fl is threaded internallyf as at la vforY connection with the pumping tube above the packerl at lb for connection with that portion ol the pumping'tube al whichextendsl through the packer-when this occurs-and again at lcfor connection with the body 2 of the external y threaded as at' 15l if desired, as a means of facilitating the grabbingofthe packer incase it shouldbecome necessary at any time to fish for the packer. The pumping tubing a, al is usually of two inch `diameter, more or les,s, butthe diameter of the tubing constituting the' vbody portion 2 of thepacker will be governed by thev diameter of the bore of the well with which the packer isl to be used.

Surrounding the body lportion 2 of the packer immediately below'the collar l is a ollow cylinder or annulus 3 of compressiblef material, preferably of rubber, which con-` stitutes the packing, and immediately below the packing cylinder 3 is an annular abutment or seat 4 therefor, through which annular abutment the body 2 of'the packer is freelym'ovable downward though the movement downward of the annular abutment on acker. The collar l may alsobefI the body portion 2 of the packer is limited bggasl'ight,annular'shoulder 2a on the-exterior of the bodyportion 2. The-position of the shoulder 2a 1s such as. to prevent the separation of the'collar l, the packing cylin- "der 3 and the annular .abut-ment 4. The ,annularabutment 4 tapers downward, oris theorm of a frustum of a` hollow cone f'sa's'to obtain a' wedge shape cross `section for coaction with the slips of an anchor.

The .lower end of the body portion 2 of the packer is provided with a collar which forms. a peripheral shoulder 2b to engage a similar shoulder on thev interior of a telescoping sec- .tion or sleeve extension, and a short distance above `its lowerend 'the body. portion 2 ot the packer is provided with diametrically disposed slots 2c of L-shape for the reception of pins on an anchor cage, theslots and pins constituting a bayonet lock for holding the' anchor .slips `v out 'ot-operative engagement with the annular abutment 4.

5 indicates an anchorbage'located below the annular abutment 4 and movable on the body portion'2 of the packer.l

t 6 indicates slips loosely connected'with the cage 5- by the reins 6l :and held in Contact;v

and out of contact with'the walls-ofthe With the inclined' face ofthe abutment 4,

well'bylsemi-elliptic springs 7 one end of '95 each of' said springs being secured to the cagev as at 7* while the other endf bears on the rein' of a slip-above the movable connection of 'the rein with /the cage 5. These springs 7 will at all times engage the side walls of "the well where the diameter of the woll is normal, and -will sustain the cage and slips in a fixed position in the well when the cage is free 'of the body 2 so that the body 2 can move longitudinally independently of the cage. The springs also maintain the slips 6 out of engagement with the walls of the well in raising or lowering thefpacker when the cage is locked to thebody lof the packer. .Equally disposed around and I'arojectingA downward from the cage a're a plurality of lugs or projectionsz and projecting inwardly from two oppositelyV located lugs 5 engages the shoulder' 2b on the lower end of y 'body 2 of the packer so'thatfthe extension sleeve issuspended from the packer body 2. AThe lower end 'of' the extension. sleeve 8 is internally threaded as `at`8aL for the reception connect with an extension tubing Athe bottom of the well.

of a coupling member 9 for the attachment of such further length of tubing 10 as will suflice to extend from the coupling 'member in itsproposed position in the well to within a short distance of the bottom of the well. When the pumpingl tubing a1 extends through the packerbody 2 vas shown in the several igures of the drawing this coupling member 9 will be of such character as to l0 of a diameter to permit ofthe free passage of the lower end of the pumping tubing 1,'and Athe extension sleeve 8 and extension tubing 10 will be of such length that the bottom of the cage 5 will engage the upper 'end of. exten# sion 8 before the end of the tubing al strikes Where the portion a1 of the pumping tubing is omitted, or does not extend through the body 2 of the packer, a reducing coupling 9a, Fig. 4, or its equivalent, may be substituted for the extension coupling 9 shown i'n the principal gures of the drawing.

The construction of the packer being of the character hereinbefore pointed out it will be applied in .the well and will operate as follows:y When the anchor cage 5 1s in.

its lowest position 0n bodyl 2.of the packer and the pins 5b are-in the horizontal portions of'- the L-shaped slots 2c, the cage is xed against longitudinal movement with relationto thefbody 2 of the packer andthe abutment V4, and the packer may be inserted inthe well-and lowered or raised therein without the anchor slips 6 engaging the walls or' the well, but the elliptic springs 7 will be in rictional contact with the walls of the well.- When th'e'pa'cker has been lowered to the desired position in the well, which will be one wherein thelower end of the extension tubing 10 of the telescoping member is near the b ottom of the well though not in contact therewith, the tubing a is rotated and as the anchor springs 7 are in contact with the walls of the well the cage will remain stationary and the pins 5b will eventually enter the vertical portions' of the L-shaped slots 2cK, whichn will permit a downward movement of the body 2 of the packer and will cause the conical annular abutment 4 to move downward between th'e slips 6 and body 2 of the packer, whereby, owing -to the load on the annular abutment.

of the/well.shouldspall-or crumble so as to release the anchor and abutment, the

downward movement of the anchor would be arrested by the l.tclescoping extension memberbefore 4the tubing had gained any material momentum, and-the bottom of the anchor cage coming in contact with the upper end of the telcscoping extension a little before the downward movement of the body of the packer had ceased would arrestv packer, the annular abutment-4 will be with-v drawn from behind the slips, the slips will reassume the position shown in Fig. l ofv l the drawing, so las to avoid the walls of the well, and thepack'er may be raised and reset in the well where the bore of the well is of normal diameter, and this without pulling the tubing or removing the packer from the well.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1., In an oil well packer, the combination vwith an annular compressible packing, of a loq packer body, an abutment through which the packer body is movable, an anchor for anchoring the abutment on the walls of the well, means for xing the anchor with relation to the body `of the packer and releasing it therefrom while in the well, and an extension member below the anchor said member having a telescoping connection with the body of the packer.

2. In an oilnwell packer, the combination of a packerbody, an annular packing, an abutment for the packing, said abutment and the body of the packer being relatively movable, an anchor for the, abutment, said anchor and the body of the packer being also relatively movable, means for at will connecting and disconnecting the anchor and the packer bodywhile in the well, and a pendent extension member below the anchor, said member being movable with relation to the packer body and adapted to engage the anchor.

A3. In an oil well packer, the combination with an annular compressible packing, of a packer body, an abutment for the annular packingsaid abutment being movable with relation to the packer body, an anchor cage having slips lo'qsely carried thereby, semivnular packing, and means carried by the packer `body for anchoring the abutment to the Walls of a Well said means being oper- .able independently of the lsuspendedenten- :sion member of the packer body.

.5. In a, Well packer, the combination of a .body member, an extension member suspended from and telescopically 'connectedv with the'body member, an annular packing, an annular abutment for the' packing, anchor devices for vsupporting the abutment from the Walls of a well, and spring members on the anchor for rictionally engaging the Walls of e Well.

-In testimony ywhereof I alibi my si `atune, in the .presenee o two subscribing wltnesees.

. PATRICK `H. MACK. A Witnesses: 

